Friday, March 21, 2014

Collections Poster | Rachael Bair

Marvin Bell in "Pages" in A Marvin Bell Reader: Selected Poetry and Prose. NH: Middlebury College Press / University Press of New England, 1994, p. 88—

Arriving at the dentist's office, he is only two minutes late, so he is surprised to see two others in the waiting room and several coats hung from the hat tree. He takes a magazine and sits down to wait. When the receptionists appears, she greets him as if they were merely passing on the street. As if she expects him to explain himself for lingering. He only says hello and returns to his reading. But she says he must have made a mistake, his appointment is for later that day. That makes no sense to him. He has the appointment written down in three places. Suddenly he remembers. I know what it is, he says, I have a haircut appointment! He leaves the waiting room in a good humor and runs to his barber. When he explains why he is late, the barber says, Well, you knew it was something above the neck.